Students share experiences with networking and the Resume Send
To keep this column as candid as possible, interviewee statements have been anonymized into students A, B, and C with the firm names removed. All three students will be summering with New York City (NYC) firms in 2021. Below are their answers to Ultra Vires’s questions about the online NYC recruit.
These interviews have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Ultra Vires (UV): How much did you network prior to submitting your applications?
Student A: Quite a bit, especially with firms that don’t typically participate in OCIs or the Resume-Send. I went to the firms’ people directories on their websites and tried to find U of T alumni or other Canadian alumni.
I would send them a brief email where I’d introduce myself, state my interest in the firm, and then tie this to asking to speak with them. The subject line was usually “U of T JD/MBA Chat Request” or “Canadian JD/MBA Chat Request”. I always attached my resume as an overview in that first email. On average, I’d email around 4-5 people per firm and then hear back from and speak to 2 or more. The more junior associates were, the more likely they were to respond. With junior associates, I could more freely ask them my basic questions about the firm. In January, I fired off emails to partners. Their response rate was around 20-40% but almost every single firm where I spoke to a partner, invited me for an interview.
Most Canadian alumni will know exactly why you are calling and I’d say 90% of the time they would offer to forward along my resume to the recruiting team. I would try to end the 20-30 minute phone call with a question about recruiting such as:
“Do you know how I should apply?”
“Do you know what the timeline is for recruiting this year?”
“Is the firm open to hiring a canadian student?”
Some people would ask me to send my transcript first, but most were happy to forward the resume on its own. In the few cases where they didn’t offer to forward my resume during our call, I would hand in the materials through their website application portal or through the recruiter, and then follow up with the person and say “Thanks for chatting with me, I’ve now applied. If you don’t mind, I would appreciate you passing it along to make sure they see it.”
Student B: I networked with all the firms that accepted cover letters in the Resume-Send. I would go to the UTLC spreadsheet, find U of T alumni, and find the most junior person to speak to just so that I could learn something about the firm and then have something to say in the cover letter. No one ever brought up forwarding applications to talent development except one person, but it was back in September before I had sent in any application materials.
Student C: I only networked once I received my invitations for interviews from the Resume-Send.
UV: Did you submit your applications via the school’s US-Resume-Send, directly to the firms, or both? Which method yielded more success for you?
Student A: I did the classic US-Resume-Send, but also did a lot of direct recruiting because I was very sure I wanted to work in NYC. I ended up applying to around 25 firms. I rarely emailed my applications directly to the recruiters, and instead tried to get my application noticed from the networking referrals once I had submitted through the firms’ website. All applications required at least the resume and transcript. Some firms had optional additions, and I would always submit a cover letter and writing sample when given this opportunity.
Student B: I just did the Resume-Send. Although, I suspect I would have gotten more interviews if I had networked more. I would love for U of T to have a centralized anonymous system where we could see what firms have responded to our students. This could give us an idea of when we might hear back from certain firms.
Student C: I just did the Resume-Send since I was also applying to the Vancouver and Toronto recruits and put much more of my energy into networking with Toronto firms.
UV: What was the timeline and structure of hearing back at each stage?
Student A: This year’s timeline for hearing back was a total mix. I got 6 interviews, 4 of which were from outside of the Resume-Send process. For one of those, I interviewed in November and heard back in February. For the two interviews I got through the Resume-Send, I heard back within six to seven – days of the submission deadline. All interviews were “in-firm” interviews. Any previous conversations I had with a partner at the firm were considered “screener interviews.” All interviews, except for one firm, included four lawyers. I would speak to these lawyers separately for 20-30 minutes, with the overall interview experience totaling to a two hour experience. The outlier was a firm that had 6 lawyers with back to back interviews totalling to 3 hours. Almost all interviews were conversational, with maybe one behavioural question per firm, but even those questions were not difficult.
All offers were made through phone calls and a follow-up email that would arrive usually within the hour or the following day. One of the firms called me with an offer and then asked me if I knew how Canadian students were to be paid if they couldn’t get a USA social security number during the pandemic.
I’m not too worried, I’m sure we’ll figure it out, they have just never hired a Canadian student. None of the firms have confirmed if their summer programs will be conducted online or in-person. I think they just don’t want to be the first to say anything about it during recruit but most likely, everything will be online. All of them seemed to be prepared this time to have a full 10 week program regardless.
Student B: After the Resume-Send, I heard back from two firms within five to seven days. One of the firms first sent an automated link to record a five-question video interview. Within a few days of this interview, they invited me to a full two-hour in-firm. The firm sends you the interviewer names the day before. It’ll usually be two associates and two partners.
For one of them, the last interviewer was a fifth person, the hiring partner, and they gave us a 10 minute break before we spoke to them. I would recommend students have questions about the firm ready to go.
There were also two separate firms that collected additional information after the Resume-Send. One asked for diversity information and the other asked us to let them know if we were interested in litigation or corporate work.
Student C: I only applied to the firms that came to the New York panel, and one other one that the Obamas once worked at. I heard back from three within the week. One emailed me a diversity survey, another sent a link for a video interview, and my top choice called to schedule an in-firm which I scheduled for the next day. They sent me my interviewer bios, schedule, and a 20-page document about their summer program the day before.
The day of the interview, I first spoke to the recruiter. She gave me a rundown for what the day would look like. My first interview was with a mid-level associate; the next ones were with two partners back to back, another mid-level associate, and then finally the hiring partner. I had some internet connectivity issues in the first interview which made the interview end five minutes early and quite abruptly. This set me off my game and I felt like I wasn’t being upbeat and positive for the rest of the interviews. I didn’t expect the phone call, early next morning from the hiring partner with my offer. He meandered on with small talk about the snowstorm in New York before telling me they were impressed with me and extending the job offer.
One thing I would say is that this firm seemed to know quite a bit about U of T Law. They asked me about my small group paper in detail — even about which precedent cases I relied on. Then, they asked me if my summer RA job was one of the extra positions created by the school during the pandemic. Not sure how I felt about that.
UV: What parts of your application do you think were the strongest?
Student A: Realistically, all firms care about grades. I was on the edge where I had decent grades but not distinction standing or straight Hs and HHs. So I made sure to network and build up a strong resume. I think my resume really helped, especially with things like my MBA, 1L law firm experience, and working with a start-up this year. I also included interesting things like the hockey arbitration competition, the time I was on a snowboarding team during my undergrad exchange to Scotland, and that I’m in the Beer Club at Rotman.
Student B: I think since I was applying through the Resume-Send without much networking, grades must have been the strongest factor in getting interviews. My resume listed experience on Law Review which was also quite helpful. My cover letter might have made a difference, although I didn’t have too much substantial stuff other than that I am looking to explore both corporate and litigation.
Student C: I think the real answer, if I had to pick, were my grades. I think I got lucky. I had heard that NYC doesn’t care about networking, but I now know is not true. I did have mooting on my resume though. I think that and my research assistant job over the summer made me a strong candidate.
——
For all students planning on working in NYC and taking the New York Bar, you can scan this QR code for the BARBRI checklist of things Canadian students will need for the process.
Editor’s note: Dhriti Chakravarty is the BARBRI Brand Ambassador, a company whose primary product offering is U.S. bar prep courses.
*Please direct any questions about the New York licensing process to Dhriti at [email protected]
